Radical Accpetance by Tara Brach

Happiness cannot be found
through great effort and willpower,
but is already here, right now,
in relaxation and letting go.
Don’t strain yourself, there is nothing to do.

Only our searching for happiness prevents us from seeing it.
It is like a rainbow which you run after without ever catching it.
Although it does not exist, it has always been there
and accompanies you every instant.

Nothing to do,
nothing to force,
nothing to want
and everything happens by itself.

-Lama Gendun Ripoche

“Those who feel plagued by not being good enough are often drawn to idealistic worldviews that offer the possibility of purifying and transcending a flawed nature. This quest for perfection is based in the assumption that we must change ourselves to belong.”

“When we can see our prison, we also see our potential.”

“D.H. Lawrence described our Western culture as being like a great uprooted tree with its roots in the air. ‘We are perishing for lack of fulfillment of our greater needs.’ he wrote, ‘we are cut off from the greater sources of our inward nourishment and renewal.'”

“Perhaps the biggest tragedy in our lives is that freedom is possible, yet we can pass our years trapped in the same old patterns.”

“Our enjoyment is tainted by anxiety about keeping what we have and our compulsion to reach out and get more.”

“The boundary to what we can accept is the boundary to our freedom.”

“But just as a relationship with a good friend is marked by understanding and compassion, we can learn to bring these same qualities to our own inner life.”

“When we put down ideas of what life should be like we are free to wholeheartedly say yes to our life as it is.”

“We suffer when we cling to or resist experience, when we want life different than it is.”

“We perpetually lean into the next moment, hoping it will offer the satisfaction that the present moment does not.”

“Not forgiving hardens and imprisons our heart. If we feel hatred toward anyone, we remain chained to the sufferings of the past.”

My beloved child,
Break your heart no longer,
Each time you judge yourself you break your own heart
You stop feeding on the love which is the wellspring of your vitality
The time has come, your time
To live to celebrate and to see the goodness that you are…
Let no one, no thing, no idea or ideal obstruct you
Do not fight
Let go
And breathe, into the goodness that you are.
– Bapuji